Art of the Deal Writer on Trump’s Mental Fitness: He ‘Has Clearly Deteriorated’

The issue of President Donald Trump’s mental fitness for the office — always a hot topic for progressives — has gotten even hotter since the release of Fire and Fury, Michael Wolff‘s explosive new book about the Trump White House. Now, one prominent figure who has always questioned Trump’s stability is on board with the idea that the president is losing it.

Tony Schwartz — co-writer of Trump’s The Art of the Deal — has carved out a niche as something of a Trump-whisperer on cable news. Speaking with Alisyn Camerota, the author stated that he thinks the president is getting less stable.

“He has clearly deteriorated,” Schwartz said Tuesday on CNN’s New Day.

He added, “Any reasonable person spending at least 15 minutes with Donald Trump knows that this is a deeply, deeply disturbed man.”

As evidence to back up his armchair diagnosis that Trump is breaking, Schwartz holds up the idea that Trump’s work output has dramatically decreased since their time together collaborating on their book in 1987.

“He worked,” the writer said. “He doesn’t appear to do so much of that anymore. And I don’t know the reason. But it’s clear that he’s either lazy or incapable of working now. And that wasn’t as true before.”

Schwartz told Camerota that he believed Trump was always capable of snapping under intense pressure.

“Now that he’s president and the pressure is ratcheting up — not only in terms of just being president but all the controversy and pressure around him — I think it does contribute to his instability,” Schwartz said. “And that instability is significant. And frightening.”